Hanford Insider

Hanford Insider Encore Episode: KCSO Air Support Unit Insights and Aerial Law Enforcement Stories

• Rob Bentley

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Encore Episode from July 28, 2024

Unlock the secrets of aerial law enforcement with Sergeant Jerry Hunter and Senior Deputy Eric Johnson from the Kings County Sheriff's Office Air Support Unit. Established in 2014, this unit is not just about flying high; it's about enhancing public safety through the innovative use of both airplanes and helicopters. Tune in to learn how these seasoned officers balance their dynamic schedules to meet the demands of their department, especially during high-priority situations like vehicle pursuits and searches for missing persons. Their insights reveal how cutting-edge camera technology is leveraged not for surveillance, but to provide vital support to ground patrols based out of Hanford Airport.

Get an insider's view of how helicopters play a pivotal role in law enforcement beyond just aerial observation. Jerry and Eric share gripping stories, including a life-saving mission to locate an elderly dementia patient on a perilous winter night. Discover how the commanding presence of a helicopter can deter crime and assist in high-stakes scenarios, from gang activities to emergency rescues. The versatility of helicopter operations is highlighted, showcasing their ability to swiftly respond to deputies in distress, administer first aid, and even conduct water rescues. Join us for a compelling exploration of how teamwork and technology converge to elevate public safety and response capabilities in Kings County.

You can find the Hanford Insider at www.hanfordinsider.com and on social media at @hanfordinsider
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Speaker 1:

You're listening to an encore episode of the Hanford Insider from my July 28th interview with Kings County Sheriff's Office Air Support Unit. If you've seen more planes and helicopters circling Hanford over the last few months, you're not alone. After a tip from one of our listeners, I thought it would be a great idea to take a peek inside the Kings County Sheriff's Department Air Support Unit. With me today is Sergeant Jerry Hunter and Senior Deputy Eric Johnson. Welcome to the show, guys. Welcome, thank you. Thank you for having us.

Speaker 1:

Hey Jerry, when was the Air Support Unit established and what's the overall mission of the program?

Speaker 2:

Our Air support unit for the Kings County Sheriff's Office was established in 2014 and our overall mission is to support the deputies and the patrol officers on the ground.

Speaker 1:

So how many officers are assigned to the program?

Speaker 2:

Currently, myself and Eric Johnson are the two full-time crew, and we're supplemented by four TFOs from other agencies. Tfo is a tactical flight officer that operates a camera system, and we also have five volunteer pilots that are all currently military aviators.

Speaker 1:

So what types of calls have you responded to?

Speaker 2:

We respond to every call imaginable. Our bread and butter are vehicle pursuits and perimeters locating people that are hiding from law enforcement, but we respond to every type of call there is. You know throughout our shift that we work each day.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so, eric, what do?

Speaker 3:

the patrols and shifts look like on an average day that you come in to patrol the skies of Kings County, Sergeant Hunter and I have a very flexible schedule. We make our own schedule. We come in just trying to fit the needs of the department. When it's hot we fly a few more night shifts. If we see a specific time or certain days that are a little busier than others, we'll come in earlier, come in later, so it just depends. Generally we work 10-hour shifts, so we'll come in and we'll work four days a week 10-hour shifts.

Speaker 3:

Usually we come in and we'll pre-flight the airplane. We'll check to see if there's any crimes that have been happening that we need to watch out for Once the airplane is pre-flighted, we figure out if it's good enough weather to fly. We'll take off. We'll fly for a few hours and just assist with any calls we possibly can. We can stay in the air for three or four hours at a time, if need be. If that gets to be a little long for us, we'll land, we'll get fuel, we'll eat, stretch our legs and then fly again.

Speaker 1:

So you're the technology guy, I understand, and you're in charge of the cameras, so this would probably be a good question for you. I know on social media sometimes we see a lot of stuff good and bad but one of the common questions that comes up is people talk about you're flying around to spy on people and, you know, look for to catch them doing something. Maybe they should, they feel like they should be doing.

Speaker 3:

So what is your approach to patrol and how do you use the camera to solve crimes, versus just observing what's going on? So, yeah, the camera is a phenomenal tool, but no, we're not. We're not flying around spying on people. For the most part, there's so many calls for service for us to go to. We just help other agencies out Hanford, lemoore, corcoran, avenel.

Speaker 3:

I have a call screen on my computer in the airplane itself so I can see every single call that's coming in, as it's coming in for every agency in the county. So I just stare at that call screen most of the night and or most of the day during our flight and when the call comes up I think we can be of assistance to whether it be a missing child or a pursuit or somebody running or a spousal abuse, I look at the call, I think we can help, and we go to it with the camera. We're not just flying around looking in people's backyards. We do do directed patrol with the camera, trying to find criminals, whether that be reckless drivers that are driving 120 miles an hour on the freeway when we know that certain businesses have been hit with burglaries. We'll keep a special eye on certain businesses, but we're not just flying around looking at people's homes. That's just not what we do.

Speaker 1:

So then, jerry, tell us a little bit about the program. You're based at the Hanford airport, you control the whole county, and how do you respond to these different agencies that require service?

Speaker 2:

That's correct. We're based out of the Hanford airport, so this is where we take off and land from every day or every shift that we work. And, like Eric said, eric monitors all the calls for service throughout the entire county on his computer in the back of the aircraft. My job is simply to get us there. Eric will tell me what type of call we're going to. I monitor the radio as well, so I have a good idea of what the details of the call are. I'll get us in that location. Eric takes over all the radio communications, all the law enforcement side of the house. I do all the aviation side of the house. Fly the proper orbit that best suits Eric and while he's operating the camera, Well, you guys make a good team.

Speaker 1:

Let's say there's a need for service in Corcoran. You're on the ground here in Hanford. How long would it take you to get to orbit around, maybe a particular incident in for, say, corcoran?

Speaker 2:

If we're already here at the airport for our airplane by the time we get in taxi and take off and be overhead in Corcoran you're looking right around 10 minutes With a helicopter. Again, if we're already here, we can get in, take off and be overhead in about five minutes.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's impressive. You guys make a great team so you actually utilize. There's not a separate crew for the helicopter and a separate crew for the airplane. You are able to fly both of them. Correct, that's awesome. So, jerry, tell us about some of the other agencies that you help out with. I know you know you've got definitely Kings County Sheriff's Office and Hanford PD, lemoore PD, avenel and such, but sometimes you get calls for service from other agencies. How does that happen?

Speaker 2:

Yes, so our private responsibility is all the agencies in Kings County but, like you were saying, we are often tasked with helping different federal agencies DEA, us Marshals, fbi, as well as other HIDA narcotics teams. We help the Highway Patrol if needed, if their aircraft aren't available, and any other agency that may need aerial support that they don't have access to. If we're available, we'll help them, but our primary focus is on the agencies in our county. But if we're not busy, we'll go help other agencies as well in our county, but if we're not busy we'll go help other agencies as well.

Speaker 1:

So why did Kings County venture into air patrol versus maybe hiring outside agencies to come what?

Speaker 2:

are the advantages of having our own program here, right here in Kings County? That's a great question. So we work for an amazing sheriff, Dave Robinson, and he's a very much a forward thinker, trying to keep up with technology and the times of law enforcement. Law enforcement tactics have changed throughout the years and our sheriff is a big proponent of supplying the citizens of our county with the latest technology to provide the best law enforcement service that we can.

Speaker 2:

Moving forward, we started realizing there is a tremendous need for an aerial law enforcement program and that's what got us pointed in the direction. Anytime we need an aviation unit to help us with a search or a pursuit, we'd have to call CHP, We'd have to call the Fresno County Sheriff's Office, Sometimes we'd have to call the Kern County Sheriff's Office, who all had airborne law enforcement and when available they would come and assist us. And those requests became more and more, it seemed like every month. So we decided to start pursuing our own aircraft and what it would take to get an aircraft and the funding available and the funding needed, the equipment needed, and eventually that led us to where we are today.

Speaker 1:

So, eric, being the eye in the sky, you are following a lot of pursuits leg bales, as we call them but you've also had some special missions to find missing persons and stuff. Can you share with us a little bit about the importance of that aspect of the job?

Speaker 3:

Oh, definitely, we are an exceptional locating tool, whether it be for missing animals, missing people. I've found missing children before that were missing for hours, running around Limor, the city of Lemoore, that people couldn't find. Recently, a few months back, there was an elderly dementia patient at an assisted living home that had escaped overnight and it was cold in the winter and they couldn't find them for quite a few hours. Actually, like we just talked about, it was a different agency, different county, but their air support was not available. So they called for us and we have no issue going to help, especially in something like that. So we flew over and took us a while. Based on the timeframe and his age, up in his eighties, we were figuring he wasn't going to be too far, within a mile or two of where he escaped from. But come to find out.

Speaker 3:

I decided, after searching extensively the area I thought he was going to be in, we couldn't find him, just decided to open up our orbit and search a little bit farther and luckily I was able to. About five miles away, I was able to find this elderly male in a great vineyard and, um, possibly saved his life. It was cold middle of the night and I directed deputies to him um to get a medical care, and they got them back home. So we do that quite often, probably one to three search and rescue missions a month, depending on if we're up, and sometimes they call us for something like that. Other agencies will. By the time we get in the air they've already found them, but it's nice to have the availability to do it.

Speaker 1:

So, jerry, getting back to the helicopter, this is a new program to Kings County and I know those people that have apps on their phones are seeing a Kern County unit, because the helicopter came from Kern County, as I understand it. But it is Kings County and that helicopter serves a purpose similar to the air patrol of the winged aircraft, but the helicopter actually has a more specific purpose. Can you kind of share with us how the helicopter can get you in places, maybe, that you aren't able to get in with a fixed wing aircraft?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, and that seems to be a hot topic lately on social media. So we operate our helicopter just like we do our fixed wing. The only difference is the helicopter operates at a much lower level, so it's more apparent to the public. Usually when Eric and I are flying patrol missions in the fixed wing we're out of sight, out of mind. People don't hear us, they don't know we're in the air, whereas a helicopter obviously it's louder. We fly much lower, based on the camera system that's on it. But we decided there are some things in airborne law enforcement that a fixed wing can't do, and one is command presence so we could be overhead. You know a call for service and again we're at a site, out of mind. People don't know that we're there. That could be a hindrance sometimes.

Speaker 2:

Specifically last summer the county experienced a rash of shootings. I believe it was six or seven shootings within four hours. We were overhead in the fixed wing. During this time we didn't have a helicopter yet and it ended up being rival gangs, so one would go shoot at the other. The rival gang would have a meeting. Then they would go do another shooting. Well, eric and I were watching these meetings taking place, but there's nothing we can do. They're on private property, in people's backyards, so the patrol officers can't just walk into somebody's backyard to disrupt these meetings. So what we ended up doing to try to stop all these shootings from continuing is we called the Fresno County Sheriff's Office, asked them to fly over the certain neighborhood, turn their spotlight on, just to let the gang members know that hey, we're overhead and we're watching you. It was a command presence. We didn't have another shooting that night. Eric and I were actually orbiting quite several thousand feet above the helicopter and we watched all these gang members just disperse. They pointed at the helicopter and eventually dispersed, and we didn't have another shooting that night.

Speaker 2:

So the helicopter plays a pivotal role of command presence, but it also gives us the ability during emergency situations to be able to land to assist patrol officers on the ground. For instance, if we have a Kettleman City deputy that's in a fight for his life, you know, say, out on Utica and 25th Avenue, that deputy's patrol beat alone is 750 square miles. So depending on where he is, it could take upwards of 45 minutes to an hour for that deputy to get help. If it's an absolute emergency, we have the ability of landing the helicopter on the side of the road to be able to get out and help that deputy. Both Eric and I have all of our equipment in the helicopter to where you know, our standard patrol equipment rifles, handguns, duty belt, our vests. I would stay with the helicopter, eric would get out and help that deputy. Same for traffic accidents. I don't know how many times we've been overhead traffic accidents where somebody has been ejected and, um, you know, you just have passerbys performing, you know, first aid on this person that essentially it looks like they're they're going to die. Depending how far you know where the car crash is, how far fire is, how far EMS is, we have a trauma kit in our helicopter. If the need arises, we can land, eric can jump out, provide emergency first aid until EMS arrives on scene, rather than just flying above it, watching it and being helpless.

Speaker 2:

With the addition of the helicopter, we can also do water rescues and being helpless. With the addition of the helicopter, we can also do water rescues. Those are a hot topic right now with the Kings River. I think our dive team did 12 rescues last Friday alone. With a helicopter, we can attach, it has a cargo hook. We can attach a long line with a cinch collar. We can fly that collar over to the victim that's in the water. They can put the cinch collar around their waist and their chest and we can lift them out of the water onto a canal bank. So it just gives us a lot more ability than the fixed wing. So that was the reason we decided to purchase it, because it has a lot of capabilities to enhance the safety of the public that we can't currently do with the fixed wing.

Speaker 1:

Well, you certainly summed up the importance of the fixed wing and the helicopter and the way that they respond to calls and they're helping keep our county safe For both of you. What is something that you think the community should know that maybe we haven't touched on yet? Just getting the word out about the program.

Speaker 2:

I think the community I really want to educate the community. We just had an open house showing our aircraft to the citizens. They paid for them. It's their aircraft. We just get the luxury of working on them every day.

Speaker 2:

Whether it's a fixed wing call for service, it's not necessarily an emergency. It could be just a foot chase, it could have been a car chase. We could be looking for somebody hiding in somebody's backyard At night. We'll utilize the searchlight on the helicopter, similar to what you see other agencies doing on TV. It's not the end of the world, you don't have to fear. We're just doing our job and we're trying to help the guys on the ground. That's the biggest importance. Again, the fixed wing. We're kind of out of sight, out of mind. Nobody really knows that we're up there. We're the helicopter. We fly at lower levels. It's louder. The community isn't used to seeing a helicopter until recently, so there's been some misinformation on social media about what we're doing. It's our helicopter. It's not Kern County's. That's where we bought it from. But we're helping the guys on the ground. It isn't a major emergency situation. We're just helping the guys on the ground, try to find whoever they're looking for.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I'm not sure I can add much to that. Sergeant Hunter hit the nail on the head. The big thing with the helicopter and social media is oh, they have the searchlight on, so so they must be looking for a drug dealer or something. Sometimes it's. We use the searchlight to direct which is a benefit of the helicopter, the airplane, me in the back. I'm having to tell the deputies, trying to direct the deputies or officers in to what I'm looking at, and sometimes it's hard. It's like, hey, go to the greenhouse. They're like, well, they all look green down here. Okay, well, go three houses to your east and then make a right.

Speaker 3:

Okay, with a helicopter, especially if it's at night. Hey, the person you're looking for is in this backyard. Well, we don't know which backyard. It is Okay, we can turn the spotlight on and they can see exactly what we're pointing at and they can go towards the light and it could be, you know, a missing child that we're circling for. It could be a number of things that we're circling for. So it's not necessarily a pursuit or somebody that has a gun that's running through your backyard. It may be, or it may just be somebody that stole from Dollar General a couple packs of cigarettes.

Speaker 1:

We just help with anything we possibly can, if we think we can help the deputies on the ground or the officers on the ground. We're going to help them. Wow, what an impressive program you have here, and I'd like to thank both of you for joining us on the show and it sounds like we've got a big shout out to Sheriff Robinson as well and the taxpayers of Kings County who have made this program happen. So I'd like to thank both of you for coming on the show and your service to our county.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for having us. We really appreciate it. We're always open to showing people the equipment. All you have to do is simply call our dispatch. We also do ride-alongs when able. We can't always get to everybody, but, again, to schedule a ride-along, if you want to fly in our aircraft, all you have to do is call our dispatch. We'll try to arrange that as much as possible, depending on our work schedule and what we have going on.

Speaker 1:

Well, thanks again. If you enjoyed this podcast and you'd like to show your support, you can go to buymeacoffeecom slash Hanford Insider to make a donation. If you'd like to join the Hanford Insider email list, stop by my website at hanfordinsidercom to sign up for updates. You'll also get an exclusive copy of my newsletter in your inbox each week. I also need your help getting the word out about the show by liking and sharing on social media or telling a friend For more information about the show. You can find this podcast on Facebook, instagram, threads X and YouTube at Hanford Insider. I'm also now on TikTok at Hanford Insider 1. If you have a show idea, be sure to email me at hanfordinsider at gmailcom and I'll look into it. Don't forget I'll be back with an all new episode January 13th. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.

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